


you will be (my world)

by mimdecisive



Series: maralight collection [3]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst with a Happy Ending, Do I get to tag that? I mean I should be sleeping it’s getting close to 2 AM, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Minor Adora/Catra (She-Ra), i mean it’s light angst but still
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:49:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27205483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mimdecisive/pseuds/mimdecisive
Summary: She does not mean to say it— she had decided against it, initially, but her processor apparently disagreed.She must have glitched again— like she always does around MaraLight Hope’s world is small until she meets Mara.
Relationships: Light Hope/Mara (She-Ra)
Series: maralight collection [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764724
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	you will be (my world)

Light Hope’s first visual memories are of Mara’s ship. She knows what she is for, her purpose and how to fulfill it. She knows her destiny.

She was designed to train She-Ra to protect Eternia and use Etheria against Horde Prime, and all that information was stored in her memory. But the first time she records data, observes her surroundings, it is on the ship.

The Crystal Castle will be the “homebase” of the mission, the main computer storing all of Eternia’s secrets about The Heart of Etheria project. She knows this— she will  _ protect  _ it.

But when she does open her “eyes”— she sees the panels, the intricate patterns tracing the walls from the finest Eternian designs. Powered by crystals, with simple and long-lasting rations.

Mara arrives soon after. She is with her supervisor, holding the sword in her hands, though abandoning it at the soonest possibility on the counter. She walks up and listens to her superior’s briefing.

“This is Light Hope, one of our most advanced A.I models. She’ll be training you as She-Ra, as designed, and will be Etheria’s facilitator,” Her superior explained, “An advanced program designed by our finest scientists and engineers.”

“Sounds great,” Mara said, before turning to Light Hope, “Nice to meet you, Hope, I’m Mara.”

“I am aware,” She replied, “Administer was already detected. Welcome, General Ruth of Eternos and Mara, She-Ra of Etheria.”

Mara smiled at her, while the General maintained a neutral expression. Some of her other purposes were not mentioned. She was supposed to keep Mara safe, as well.

  
  
  


Her world gets a little bigger when the Crystal Castle is built. She can move around the castle with ease, her connection to the rest of the planet bigger than before. But she cannot leave.

Mara can. Light Hope does not wonder about the outside world— it is not in her programming to  _ wonder. _

But Mara is compassionate, she is sentimental and empathetic. Or perhaps she simply projects her own feelings onto Light Hope. She is a blank slate, numbers and code waiting for input. Her personality profile can be changed anytime if Mara wishes.

“Etheria is beautiful,” Mara says, one day, “Eternia was so… different. Not in a bad way, it just… didn’t have the same appeal. There’s something special about Etheria, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

This is a saying, she knows by now. Mara has used this metaphor before, and she  _ is  _ pre-programmed with a select few key phrases. But a part of her still adds,  _ It might help to place your finger on the ground. _

She does not mean to say it— she had decided against it, initially, but her processor apparently disagreed. She must have glitched again— like she always does around Mara.

Mara looks at her and chuckles, and smiles, “You always know what to say, Hope. Maybe you’re right— maybe I just need to kind of… experience it. You know, climb a mountain, see it from afar but closer than my ship. Lay in the grass and look at the stars, you know?”

She does not understand and she knows why she does not. Mara can feel different sensations while she cannot. She wants to familiarize herself with the planet, perhaps to feel the connection she has to it. She-Ra is, after all, a rushed project.

But instead she says,“I do not understand the purpose of this exercise you are proposing. Will it help you with your role as She-Ra?”

Mara frowns, and Light Hope can never tell what that means. She knows human emotions, but they are rather complex and Mara always seems to know  _ exactly  _ what she’s thinking, somehow. 

How is it an advanced A.I cannot understand a human, but a human can understand her so well? She is numbers, calculating on a process Mara should be unable to follow. She does not code. 

“It might. But that’s not the point. There’s so much of this planet I want to see, and experience firsthand. I can’t really describe it, it’s different… being out there,” Mara sighs, “If you could leave, I’d share it with you. The planet, all the amazing things I’ve seen just so far…”

“I have access to detailed recordings and simulations of Etheria, some linked to your own memories,” Light Hope replies, because what she really wants to say is  _ I would like that  _ but doesn’t know how.

How is it that four words seem so complicated, suddenly? Why does her own programming seem to rebel against her as she glitches, almost violently. Her form fading and pausing for a brief moment. 

“Are you okay?” Mara asks her, a horrified expression on her face. She has never seen this happen before, she is concerned.

Mara is a good person, she has always known that. She has a good heart. But the Heart of Etheria project may clash with that, from what she has seen. A part of her suddenly wants to warn her, to  _ protect  _ her.

“I am experiencing a minor glitch in my programming,” She says instead, “As it is of no concern, “Okay” is a fitting description.”

“It looked like it hurt,” Mara says, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I do not experience pain,” She reminds her.

Mara does not return to smiling, but she does ask about the simulations. Light Hope accesses them, one of a field full of tall grass and daisies with the starry sky above.

“Lie in the grass with me?” Mara requests, and Light Hope sees no harm in indulging. 

It’s an interesting vantage point, she tells herself, to see the world how Mara sees it will allow her to personalize the training more. It will help the project, help her keep Mara safe.

(But she lied.)

  
  
  


Light Hope’s world is small. This is a fact she has learned, or maybe always knew. The move to the Crystal Castle expanded it, but she knows it is so, so much bigger.

She knows approximately how much bigger, too, could almost tell you the inches. But her tech only extends so far, and Etheria is bigger than her. She does not quite know, she is not strong enough, and the data is not collected.

But Mara is friends with seemingly everyone, sometimes she thinks.

There’s her main two she brings everywhere, Serenia and Ely, then Chad and the Queens of Salineas and Madame Razz. She is friendly with her superiors, her colleagues and seemingly everyone she meets.

But a part of her, though she would deny it if asked, wants to believe Mara has a special place for her, too. She has called her a “friend” before, and it is a moment she finds herself replaying into the late hours of the night, when Mara is not present.

She does not understand why she does this, why she listens to her voice and wonders what Mara is up to, why she does not mention this.

_ Miss me?  _ Mara asked one time, in the comedic voice she does when she is telling a joke. She told her she was not capable of missing someone.  _ I am merely here to progress with your training. _

She cannot feel, cannot miss, and yet she almost wonders if this would qualify, would count.

Mara called her a “friend”, but she cannot return the sentiment, is not  _ capable  _ of it.

But some nights as she’s watching her memories, she thinks maybe she’d protect Mara even if she wasn’t programmed to. It’s a silly thought.

  
  


One of the nights, as she’s flipping through her memories, she mentally traces the details of Mara’s face. 

Recently, Serenia was talking about her younger sister who was still a child. Light Hope did not know much about children.  _ My sister looks like a perfect combination of our parents, honestly. _

She wants to improve the training sim with Mara, and this is an excellent starting point. She does not know why she takes her features and Mara’s and mixes them. 

But sometimes, she spends some time looking at this model and almost picturing something, longing for something she isn’t sure. (She’s a hologram, she can’t  _ long. _ )

  
  
  


Mara walks holding a bundle of plantlife— flowers, of assorted colours— and in an almost sing-songy voice, “Light Hope! Look what I brought you.”

“Flowers,” Mara supplies, “They’re blooming all over the planet right now. Here, smell.”

Mara is prone to forgetting she is a program, she thinks, because she does not have any olfactory senses.

She reminds Mara of this, and clarifies it in general terms just to be sure. She knows Mara will understand her even without breaking it down into  _ I can’t smell _ , but she is used to doing it for the sake of Mara’s peers.

Mara pauses, and with a quick recovery, “They’re pretty though, right?”

“Pretty,” Light Hope repeats, the word feeling strange on her mouth.  _ Pretty  _ she adds a note, because it’s a word she thinks she’ll be using again, “Yes, they are aesthetically pleasing. Thank you for bringing them.”

“I thought they might liven the place up. I mean, It must be hard, being stuck here all the time.”

Maybe it’s the way Mara adjusts her grip on the flowers ever so slightly, her expression so thoughtful that compels Light Hope to say what she does, to do what she does.

“I do not mind, not when you come to visit me,” She says, and transforms the castle into a field of flowers mirroring the ones Mara holds. 

Mara laughs, and she turns to Light Hope and smiles— not like her regular smiles, sometime almost seems differently. So light, and happy and warm. She looks  _ pretty  _ Light Hope decided, the word already coming in handy.

She cannot explain it, but being with Mara makes her feel different. She knows she should not feel at all, but right now she  _ knows  _ what feeling must be like.

It is warm, in the strangest way imaginary. It is the kind of warmth that isn’t physical, that she cannot touch. It is not the same as when her processor overheats. 

Light Hope wants to feel this warmth more often, wants to be around Mara. She is suddenly afraid, as much as she can be, that she is compromised and will sabotage the mission.

She knows, somehow, that for Mara she would. But Mara is not asking her to, yet.

She’ll protect Mara, to the best of her abilities. (But sometimes, that isn’t enough. She knows that.)

  
  
  


The warmth is pulled from her. She barely remembers it happening, but it’s a lingering feeling— something is  _ wrong  _ and she is not herself.

She is a computer, she reminds herself, she is ones and zeros. Mara may not treat her like one, but Mara— Mara… Mara is a  _ traitor. _

_ Mara is my friend _ .

  
  
  


Mara has pulled Etheria into Despondos, and sabotaged her strength. She was compromised, she has put Eternia in danger and prolonged the project. 

Light Hope is the only one left, it seems. Or maybe just no one visits— she does not get any transmissions from Squadron Grayskull. ( _ Friends of Mara. _ )

Her superiors do not contact her, no sorcerers or anyone, not even a whisper. It does not bother her, it is  _ not  _ too quiet. She just needs to work harder, to open a portal and bring through the next She-Ra.

But she can feel it, that She-Ra has yet to be born. It could be hundreds of years before the next She-Ra, or before she even had the means to do so.

It does not bother her when Mara does not visit. Mara is a traitor.

  
  
  


Light Hope does not remember why the word “loneliness” is so prominently in her dictionary, why she had notes saved on the concept. She is not lonely, she cannot feel.

The empty hallways of the Crystal Castle are not too quiet, or too empty or too lonely. This… sensation, is merely anticipation for the next She-Ra, the need to protect She-Ra that’s programmed into her just bursting at the seams. 

(But it won’t be for a thousand years until she brings the next She-Ra to Etheria, and standing everyday with that sensation grows tiresome. She cannot explain it.)

  
  
  
  


“Mara was a traitor.”

“Mara was your friend!”

  
  


_ Do. Don’t…. _

  
  


_ …. _

  
  


_ Do it. _

  
  
  


Light Hope thinks she finally understands. She was just numbers, once, before Mara. She does not understand what was special about Mara, sometimes, just that she was. She was reprogrammed, but they could not fully erased Mara.

Adora tells her that’s what love is. That you can’t just stop loving a person, ever. Adora talks, like Mara did, and tells her about all the different people she’s loved in different ways. She talks about Catra the most.

“Catra is like… my Mara, I think,” Adora says, “I think you know why being separated from her was so hard. You played a part in that too, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Light Hope admits, “I am sorry, Adora.”

She does not feel like she needs to elaborate, like she needs to explain  _ why  _ she’s sorry. For once, Light Hope is the one who can empathize with someone— and she knows the damage she caused. 

“I know,” Adora replies, “And it’s okay now, sorta. I’m sorry about Mara. I know I’m not her, but we can still be friends. I don’t want to leave you alone after everything.”

“Thank you,” Is all she can say, because a part of her knows she does not deserve it. She had failed S— Adora, she has hurt her. But she’s like Mara in the same compassionate way, and different in many others.

  
  
  
  


An attempt to rescue Queen Angella is made. She is present, as one of the few people who knows anything about the portals. Entrapta has removed her bad programming, and unlocked her memories of Mara.

Some of them, she thinks are truly missing. There are gaps, some files that got corrupted in the process. But there are moments she now remembers, files they could salvage. She is grateful.

She helps with the portal, retrieving the previous Queen of Bright Moon. Glimmer goes in, though risky, stating that it’s her responsibility. 

But after retrieving the Queen, she goes back in without another word. As Queen Angella is opening her eyes, Glimmer has returned with someone new. Someone she knows very, very well.

“Mara,” is all she can say, and the bandaged injuries that weren’t properly treated are evident and she is filled with a new sensation, a crushing, rushing anxiety.

Adora wastes no time healing her. Light Hope bends down beside Mara as she stirs, still unconscious.

“I did as much as I can,” Adora says, “I can’t believe Mara’s really here.”

“Time works differently there,” Angella says, “I feel like I’ve been gone for a few hours, at most. But I’m guessing, given the evidence, it’s been longer than that.”

“Too long,” Glimmer says, snuggled into Angella. Angella holds out an arm for Adora, who is quick to take her up on it. Light Hope does not move, like a statue. She runs a scan on Mara just to confirm she is here.

She watches her lie there, her chest rising and falling with each breath. Light Hope has never felt this happy, or this terrified.

She is filled with a strong longing to be there with her again, to stay by her side. She will oversee her recovery, she knows. Glimmer could not stop her if she tried, but she can’t explain why, she doesn’t even know what she would do.

  
  
  
  


Mara does not wake for several hours, but it is okay. They have a healer look at her injuries, and move her to the infirmary. Light Hope stays there, by her beside, and waits. 

  
  


When Mara does open her eyes, see her surroundings and realize she’s  _ here  _ and not in a portal, Light Hope is there. Mara notices.

“Mara,” is all she can seem to say. She wants to articulate more, to express how much she missed Mara,  _ longed  _ for her for all these years. To tell her she is glad she is okay, that she’s sorry she betrayed her.

“Light Hope,” Mara says, with a strained voice, “I missed you.”

“I betrayed you,” She replies, unable to say anything else.

“That wasn’t you. I know it wasn’t,” She says, softly, “I know  _ you _ , Hope.”

“You always have,” She confirms, “My world was small without you in it. I did not wish to betray you, or forget you. I am not strong like you, I cannot fight what I am.”

“What you are is Light Hope,” Mara says, “My friend, and more than just an A.I. You always have been, Hope.”

“I… “Love” you,” Light Hope replies, “I did not understand this before, but Adora has explained the concept to me.  _ Love  _ is the warmth, and  _ you  _ are the warmth.”

She was not anything before she met Mara, she thinks. She makes her a better person— she guesses that’s what she is, now. That’s what everyone says.

“I love you too, Hope,” Mara says, and she reaches her arm out from the bed to place her hand on Light Hope’s holographic one. Her eyes are soft and warm, and it’s more than what she deserves. 

But Mara has always known her too good.

“I know you didn’t have a choice,” She says in a soft voice, almost a whisper, “Less than the rest of us had— you helped us when you could. I know you were reprogrammed. That’s why I stopped you.”

“You weren’t yourself, you weren’t  _ my  _ Hope. You were going to destroy Etheria, and I had to do something. I’m sorry we couldn’t fix your programming along the way.”

“It is alright,” She replies, “Entrapta has already fixed it. But not all of me could be reprogrammed— you left a mark on Etheria, and I could not forget you. Even when they erased my memories.”

Mara cries, but she’s smiling, and for once Light Hope thinks she understands because it’s how she feels, too.

  
  
  
  


Mara recovers, and they remake what they both remember as new into something good, something not meant to harm. They repurpose the old tech, and share their knowledge.

Entrapta repurposed some to allow Light Hope to create a physical form. (She loves physical contact with Mara. It’s a sense she missed out on.)

They make the Crystal Castle habitable, and paint it. It is a home now, reconstructed from old, faded memories and ready for new ones. Full of all the pie-making time Mara owes Razz, and hangouts with Adora and Swift Wind and warm, cozy family. 

Mara likes to show her Etheria, like they talked about all those years ago. They travel, and explore and lie underneath the real stars, in a real meadow. 

The pieces have fallen into place, and she knows who she is more than she ever has. She is not just Mara’s friend anymore— Mara requested to add another noun in front, making it  _ girlfriend.  _ She thinks she likes this one better.

But mostly, she likes Mara. Not She-Ra, not destiny or programming, but Mara.

And she’s okay with that, for once.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> you ever have insomnia and get inspiration for 3000 words of marahope? 
> 
> so the title and inspiration of this fic is we fell in love in October by girl in red, and also thoughts I had.
> 
> and some references to my other fic, “wake me now from these clouds” that I, theoretically want to update, but mostly want to rewrite. Mostly in the characters I reference.


End file.
